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Chargers Cut Flowers and Johnson

The Chargers continued their roster purge today with the release of veteran cornerback Brandon Flowers and wide receiver Steve Johnson. The releases will save the Chargers over $10 million in cap room. Combined with the earlier release of lineman DJ Fluker the Chargers should now have around $23 million in cap space. They are a team with a number of holes so they may not be done yet in trying to find ways to free up cap room in the coming days.

Flowers signed a four year, $36.4 million contract with the Chargers in 2015 following a one year prove it deal with the club in 2014. He would have earned $9 million had he made the team, which is not that expensive for a cornerback, but given the Chargers current situation with the cap and the state of their roster they may have decided to get younger. Flowers has issues staying healthy and last played in 16 games in 2011. Since signing his extension he has only played in 17 games across two years. His release will leave the Chargers with a $4 million dead money charge, but they will free up $7 million in cap room.

Johnson was a relatively low risk, $3.5 million per year signing back in 2015 that didnt work out as well as expected. Johnson missed all of last season with an injury and the year before missed 5 games. Johnson is only 30 but it seems like so long ago that he was that 1,000 yard receiver with the Bills that was considered one of the bright young talents in the game. His release, which was expected, saves the Chargers $3.5 million in cap space. They will take on a dead money charge of $1 million.